Differing pupil agency in the face of adult positioning

Abstract

The focus of this article is children's positioning and agency in a Swedish school class. Drawing on ethnographic data generated during a year-long field study, the actions of three different children are used by the researcher to illustrate how children position themselves and are positioned by others. Using the concept of professional pupils and child, the article in particular explores children's agency and the possibility for children to position themselves as agentic. In the article, two of the children are shown to strive to position themselves as professional pupils, and it is shown that this positioning is not available to the children unless their teacher accepts and reinforces it. The third child is understood to actively aspire to the position of child, with the connotations this entails of being immature, incompetent and uncontrolled, showing that agentic positioning does not necessarily entail a show of competence.

Keywords:

• school
• positioning
• agency
• professional pupils
• children

Notes

1. The Swedish comprehensive school was at its formation divided into three levels: junior level (sw. lågstadiet) being the first three years; intermediate level (sw. mellanstadiet) comprising the next three years; and the senior level (sw. högstadiet) the last three years. Although officially dispensed with, this organisation is still in place in many schools and the children in the study class were organised accordingly.

2. In Sweden children generally call their teachers by their first names.

3. Fun-time, (sw. roliga timmen) is a weekly activity traditionally set aside for the children to initiate and carry out activities of their own choice. In the study class the children organised games and competitions or mimed shows to music.